“And The Word Became Flesh And Made His
Dwelling Place Among Us”
(Jn
1:14)
Dear Sisters and Brothers in
Christ,
Today
we together celebrate the Birthday of Jesus our Lord and Savior to mark again
our freedom from the slavery to sin and death.
By
such a statement we firmly recognize the evident and unbreakable link between
the coming of Jesus into the world and our definitive deliverance from all
forms of evil, destructive consequences of sin, both original and personal.
Since
the birth of Jesus 2017 years ago, humanity has made an irreversible turning
point that leads the world and the universe together to the new horizon, that
of how all peoples and nations of different cultural and religious traditions
could join hands and hearts in the building of the human family where we live
together in love and peace as sisters and brothers.
This
has in reality brought about in the history of mankind the new way of life,
that of Christian civilization.
Tracing
back to the creation of the world by the Lord God, man was made in the divine
likeness and lived in perfect harmony with God the Creator and other creatures.
Unfortunately,
sin turning everything up side down caused damage beyond repair to the
relations between man and God, man and his neighbor, man and his environment.
We
could not help but wonder what the wickedness of sin is that keeps inflicting
on humanity such a tragedy.
Sin
in its very evil nature is nothing other than man’s deliberate and determined
decision to achieve the final end of his life being absolutely independent from
the Lord God, Creator and Savior. Man
made himself the lone standard of the principles and norms of moral values.
For
that grave wrongdoing man has been responsible and has suffered from the free
fall into a bottomless valley of disasters.
No
one but God can save man from eternal loss.
This
is why Jesus came to our rescue.
He
came to tell us the truth that God is love, slow to anger and rich in mercy and
that conversion or going back to God is all that we are to do for being saved.
He
also told us how to restore the broken relationship with God, with neighbor and
our living environment.
He
not only taught us with mere words of His mouth but and above all He set before all of us the good example of
how man could serve God the way obedient and grateful children do their loving
and caring father. For love of God,
Jesus surrendered even His own life to do the Holy Will of His Abba—Dad in
heaven.
He
did so because He loved us His sisters and brothers in His human nature and
thus He left us the key to the restoration of the original image of God in each
and one of us.
For
the abovementioned reasons, and for the present reasons that we are facing a
world where violence and hatred, selfishness and personal interest prevail over
love, compassion and peace, we feel the need all the more greater for Jesus’
coming to shed light on our lives as individuals and communities, now and here,
as we commemorate His birthday today.
Thanks
be to God the Father and the Holy Spirit, we listen to the Good News of divine
saving power that assures us this truth that the Eternal Word of God and God
Himself has come to us in our human nature and has made our world His home, to
share with us all the ups and downs of our lives. This is, therefore, by no way just a short
visit but a long and permanent stay with us decided by the Lord and Savior Who
is Emmanuel—God with Us—and Who is Jesus—God Saves Us. Amen.
Fr. Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Nhut, O.P.
